The Point of No Return, Chapter Four
Standing at the town gate next to Captain Buckner, Wilton watched as Dobbs ran his fingers over the hinge.
"Cap'n?" said Dobbs. "Do you want me to pull this old hinge clean off?"
Wilton started to reply, but he realized when Captain Buckner bent to examine it that Dobbs hadn't been talking to him.
"It's pretty rusty," said Captain Buckner. "Let's just replace the whole thing."
Wilton had a good view of both the town and the fort, and he noticed that Jane was in front of her store directing a young man who was loading a buckboard. She had mentioned last night that she'd hired an assistant, and evidently that's who was helping her. The young man leapt with enthusiasm to complete any little task, and the way he waited, starry-eyed, for his next instruction made it clear that he was smitten with her. And who could blame him? She was beautiful, with her blonde hair shining in the sun and her soft shoulders framed by the neckline of her dress.
Dobbs paused for a moment to wipe the sweat off his brow. "It's a stubborn little cuss," he said. "Give me a couple more minutes, and I'll have it."
Wilton had always liked that Jane never seemed to be self-conscious about her beauty, and that she was strong and confident and able to speak her mind without worrying that it might make her less feminine. He had known far too many women who primped and postured and professed never to have an opinion, and who complained if they so much as dirtied a finger. Thank goodness Emily wasn't like those women, either, although she could never grab one end of a heavy bag of feed and help someone heave it into a wagon like Jane had just done.
"There!" said Dobbs.
The hinge finally came off with a groan. The door tilted, and Wilton and Captain Buckner both rushed forward to help shore it up just as the wood around the other hinge started to splinter. It was obvious that it wouldn't take much more than a strong gust of wind to bring it all down.
"Captain Buckner," said Wilton through gritted teeth. "I think that we need to do more here than just replace one hinge."
"I agree. Dobbs, grab the ladder and remove the other hinge so we can check out the wood before we do anything else." He yelled over his shoulder. "Sergeant O'Rourke!"
Dobbs dragged the ladder to the fence, and a moment later Wilton felt someone at his back. He glanced over his shoulder to see that O'Rourke and several other men had joined them.
"You look like you could use some help, Major," said O'Rourke.
"Definitely," replied Wilton.
Still propping up the door, Wilton shuffled over to the edge so O'Rourke could squeeze in beside him. He was very glad to have the help, because the door was getting heavy, and he could feel perspiration starting to run into his eyes. He couldn't spare a hand to wipe it off so he tried to blink it away, but that just seemed to make things worse.
"Wilton, are you all right?"
He peered around the side of the door to see Jane standing there looking concerned.
"Yes," he grunted, "I'll be fine as long as Dobbs hurries up."
"You look hotter than a tadpole in a skillet." She fished around in her sleeve and pulled out a handkerchief. "Here, let me take care of that."
He closed his eyes so she could wipe off his face. "Thank you, Janie."
She gave him a funny look, and he realized that he'd called her by her pet name. She probably didn't hear it very often anymore — he wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that Robert never called her by anything other than her proper given name.
Dobbs called out, "Got it!" and they all had to brace themselves so the door wouldn't fall over on them. He was proud of her when she got under it with them and helped them lower it to the ground.
"Whew!" said Captain Buckner. "This is a bigger job than I thought it was going to be."
Wilton inspected his hands while O'Rourke and Dobbs knelt next to the broken part of the door. "I hope I didn't keep you up too late last night," he said to Jane.
"No, not at all. Do you have splinters?"
"Just one, but it's a big one."
"Where?"
He held out his hand to her. Taking it, she said. "I should be able to get that."
He winced. "Ouch!"
"Hold still, Wilton! There." She pulled out the splinter and showed it to him. "Now, that wasn't too bad, was it?"
Rubbing his hand, he said, "I suppose I'll survive."
"I swear. You men are all alike, just a bunch of big babies."
He grinned. "Thanks again, Janie."
He had deliberately called her by her nickname this time, and she rewarded him with a sweet smile before she headed back toward her store.
…..
"Jane, my dear, would you like some more potatoes?"
"Yes, thank you, Mrs. Carlisle."
Jane accepted the china bowl from Robert's mother and spooned two of the fancy little potatoes onto her plate. They had green flecks on them, which she thought were probably bits of parsley, but she didn't want to show her ignorance by asking. She handed the bowl to Robert's father, who was sitting at the end of the table to her left.
He cleared his throat. "Robert, I received a response to my inquiry about the First Savings Bank in Topeka today. They said that they are interested in selling."
"Really, Father? That's good news. Have they told you how much they want for it?"
"Not yet, but I'm certain that we can negotiate a good price. I've asked my attorney in St. Louis to begin drawing up papers."
Addressing Robert, who sat across the table from her, Jane said, "This is so exciting! It might not be long until the bank here will be all yours."
"I think that you are more than ready to take over the bank," said Mr. Carlisle to Robert. "And I, for one, will be more than ready to leave the bank, and by extension the town."
Jane pursed her lips at Mr. Carlisle's comment. He had never made it a secret that he thought small-town life was beneath him, and he seemed to enjoy rubbing it in every chance he got. Mrs. Carlisle jumped into the conversation before her husband could continue.
"Albert, there is so much we'll miss here, especially our son and his darling Jane, and the beautiful grandchildren they'll give us someday."
Jane threw a grateful smile in her direction. Robert's daddy frightened her a little, but she loved his mama. Mrs. Carlisle was kind and generous, and she never had a critical word to say about anyone. So different from Wilton's mama, that time she came to Fort Courage—
Now, why would she be thinking about Wilton's mama at a time like this? She hadn't spared a thought for that stuck-up woman for years, but the shock of seeing Wilton again must have brought back those old memories. It was a good thing that Wilton's younger sister Daphne had been so nice, because she didn't doubt that Wilton's daddy was even scarier than Robert's. She'd always thought that she'd like Wilton's two older sisters, too, from everything she'd heard about them. It seemed that Penelope, in particular, had spoiled him when he was little, but Jane was of the opinion that a little spoiling never hurt a child, especially when the child had parents like that.
To his credit, Robert's father tried to soften his words. "Yes, Irene. We will make every effort to visit Robert and his family, and of course they will always have a place in our home."
Jane tried not to show how tickled she was by what had just happened. Robert's daddy might be stern, but it had always been obvious who ruled the roost in this house. Robert thought that he should always get his way, too, but she could see a lot of his daddy in him, and she knew that she would be able to handle him once they were married.
But… she'd also thought that she'd known how to handle Wilton, and she'd failed at that, which was really daft of her because he was the most agreeable man she'd ever known. He just hadn't agreed with her on that one important thing. Her good humor fading, she looked down at her lap for a moment, but then she raised her chin with determination. Robert was a different person, and maybe she'd never figured Wilton out, but she knew exactly what Robert was looking for in a wife. She wasn't going to fail this time. She'd do whatever it took to snare her man.
Robert's mother rang for the maid, who appeared immediately.
"Mary, did I smell some of your wonderful apple cobbler earlier?" asked Mrs. Carlisle.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm keeping it hot in the oven. I'll dish it up now."
Watching the maid leave, Jane frowned slightly. Mary had come here with Robert's parents and she'd leave with Robert's parents, but Jane knew that she was expected to have her own maid someday. Mrs. Carlisle had been trying to teach her how to run a household, and servants would be part of it, but she couldn't imagine what it would be like. How could she just sit by while someone else did the sweeping and the mopping, the cooking and the cleaning? How could she let someone else pick up after her, do the shopping for her, wash her dirty laundry?
Without realizing at first that she had done it, she reached up to finger the handkerchief still in her sleeve, the one that she'd used to wipe Wilton's brow earlier. She'd never seen Robert sweat, not even a little bit, and the only calluses on his hands were on the tips of his fingers from counting money. And did she even know how to launder a man's fine suit, like the one Robert was wearing right now? It would sure be different than laundering a cavalryman's uniform, that would be dirty and sweaty and smelling like a horse half the time. Wilton was much tidier than almost all of the soldiers she'd ever met, but he was a regular outdoorsman compared to Robert.
Now that she thought about it, Wilton would have grown up with servants, and as a man living alone in a house, he probably had at least a housekeeper right now. Emily would have grown up with servants, as well. She would have no trouble running a household. If she, Jane, had married Wilton, would she have had servants? Maybe she'd be running a household right now, and doing it easily, as if she'd done it all her life. She really couldn't picture it, though. For some reason, she had a feeling that Wilton would have been happy to set up house with just the two of them and no hired help. It wouldn't even be up for discussion with Robert.
Mary brought in the bowls of cobbler, so Jane quickly pushed the handkerchief a little higher up her sleeve and joined the others in enjoying their dessert. She might not like the idea of having a maid, but she couldn't deny that it had its benefits.
End Chapter Four